what a republican saying about the status of the fiscal cliff negotiations? reporter: they have been pretty quiet so far. we know the speaker of the house and the republican leadership team in the house is due for a conference call with members that are still back in their home districts later this hour. we expect senate republican leader mitch mcconnell to be on the senate floor. the top of the next hour, so we should get some insight from him as well. some of the aides have suggested that eerie read should talk less and legislate more. meanwhile, a house republicans suggested -- well, it's not so good. >> the house is actually extend these tax rates for everybody in the entire country, which is exactly the correct policy as we see it. we send it to the senate, the senate refuses to take it up. the senate can fix this today if they wanted to. >> the bottom line is that republicans are expecting that the white house and/or democrats on the hill will make a final offer of some sort at some point. but timing is not clear. not at this time. greg: mike emanuel li